Servilia and Cleopatra: The Women Who Shaped the Destiny of Julius Caesar

Most historical books about the Roman Republic and Empire describe the lives of important male figures, such as great generals, eccentric emperors, or ambitious politicians. The case of Julius Caesar is no different. Countless biographies have been written about his achievements and failures in both the political and military spheres. However, his personal life tends to receive less attention, especially when analyzing the impact of two of his mistresses at key moments in his career.

This article does not focus on the life of Julius Caesar itself but on the role played by Servilia and Cleopatra, his two great lovers. Both were remarkable women with great personal ambition who significantly influenced the well-known dictator, providing him with important political victories. At the same time, they were the ones who, indirectly, contributed to his tragic death and triggered the end of the Republic and the beginning of the Roman Empire.

Servilia, the Woman Who Led to the Republic’s Fall

Servilia, born in 100 BC, was one of the great ladies of Rome’s Republican era, the favorite mistress of Julius Caesar, and the mother of his assassin, Marcus Brutus. She lived through not only the dictator’s death but also that of her son after the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC. (The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica, n.d.). Servilia is often thought of as just another of Caesar's lovers, but nothing could be further from the truth. To know her story is to understand the life and fate of her lover.

Figure 1: d'Hancarville, P.F. (1780). Servilia presents her daughter Junia Tertia to Julius Caesar.

Servilia, daughter of Quintus Servilius Caepio and Livia Drusa, experienced the unfortunate divorce of her parents. After her father’s death during the Marsic Wars, her mother remarried one of the most important politicians of the time, Marcus Porcius Cato. With him, she had a son who would end up being one of Julius Caesar’s greatest enemies—Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis, better known as Cato the Younger. After the deaths of Drusa and her second husband Cato, Servilia lived under the protection of her uncle (Treggiari, 2019).

Upon reaching adolescence, the young girl did what was expected of her. At just 13 or 14 years old, she married into one of Rome’s most important families by wedding Marcus Junius Brutus. His family carried with distinction the legacy of having overthrown the last and most perverse king of Ancient Rome, Tarquin. After his exile, the Republican political system was established, aiming to uphold the Senate to ensure the proper functioning of society. This legacy would ultimately become a family burden, as future generations were expected to safeguard the Republic—something that would tragically impact Julius Caesar (Plutarch, 1899).

A year after her marriage, Servilia gave birth to her first son, who took his father’s name—Marcus Junius Brutus—one of the most famous names in history. After the death of her first husband, she remarried Decimus Junius Silanus, a Roman consul, with whom she had three daughters. Silanus also adopted his stepson, Brutus. It is unclear exactly when Servilia’s affair with Caesar began, but she remained his mistress despite her marriage to Silanus until the dictator's death. Despite Caesar’s numerous military campaigns and political obligations, the couple never stopped seeing each other (Treggiari, 2019). During their relationship, two events occurred that would change Caesar’s life forever .

Figure 2: Dardel, R.G. (18th century). Marcus Junius Brutus calls for Caesar's death.

The first event took place during the Catiline Conspiracy in 63 BC, a military rebellion aimed at establishing a dictatorship. It was led by Lucius Sergius Catilina, a prominent Roman politician belonging to the populares faction. During the rebellion, the Senate—whose members included Servilia’s half-brother; Cato the Younger, her second husband; Decimus Junius Silanus, and her lover; Julius Caesar—was in constant debate, trying to discern who was behind Catiline’s attempted coup. Many senators took advantage of the situation to unleash their envy and hatred, accusing their opponents, especially Caesar. By then, he had amassed enormous power due to the First Triumvirate, a political alliance with the influential Roman leaders Pompey the Great and Marcus Licinius Crassus, laying the foundation for his future dictatorship after their deaths (Plutarch, 1846).

During a Senate session amid the Catiline Conspiracy, Caesar received a letter and was forced to read it aloud at the insistence of Cato the Younger, who insinuated it might contain instructions from the enemy in Catiline’s camp. Cornered, Caesar read the message, revealing it to be a love letter from Servilia. As the laughter of his allies echoed through the chamber, his opponents sank into embarrassment, while disgrace was clearly reflected on the faces of Servilia’s half-brother and her husband. The public scandal led to a divorce, although Servilia continued her relationship with Caesar, who showered her with lavish gifts (Plutarch, 1846). It is important to note that morality was a fundamental value in Ancient Rome, as it was considered the foundation for building the legal system, a key guide for citizens' behavior, and closely linked to religion (Gardner, 1995).

Figure 3: Maccari, C. (1889). Cicero Denounces Catiline in the Roman Senate.

The second event occurred at the hands of Servilia's son, Marcus Junius Brutus, during the Ides of March. Brutus was one of the instigators and executors of one of the most famous political assassinations in history—that of Julius Caesar. Fatherless but sheltered under Caesar’s protection, Brutus built a remarkable political career thanks to his mother’s lover. However, in 50 BC, he and the rest of the Senate faced a dilemma: defend the cause of the Republic under a discredited leader, Pompey, or support a coup that would establish a dictatorship under Julius Caesar. Brutus despised Pompey, as he had ordered the deaths of both his father and grandfather over political differences during Sulla’s dictatorship (Plutarch, 1899), but as a true republican at heart, he chose to side with his enemy, believing Pompey’s cause to be more just than Caesar’s.

After Pompey’s defeat at Pharsalus in 48 BC, Caesar, as Rome’s dictator, spared Brutus’s life and supported his military career, possibly to please Servilia (Suetonius, 1931). However, in 45 BC, Brutus divorced his wife against his mother’s wishes and married Porcia, the daughter of Cato the Younger, a fierce enemy of Caesar, thereby openly showing his opposition to the dictator. Influenced by Cassius, he became convinced that Caesar was acting as a tyrant by concentrating all power in his hands. Ultimately, he joined the conspiracy that ended the dictator’s life on March 15, 44 BC, known as the Ides of March, becoming one of those who plunged a dagger into his body. However, he failed in his attempt to restore the Republic’s freedom (Plutarch, 1899).

Figure 4: Camuccini, V. (1806). The Death of Julius Caesar.

Thus, Servilia's life was shaped by the familial and political designs of her time, caught between the intrigues and betrayals of her family and the Senate. Her relationship with Caesar made her a witness to his death at the hands of her own son, Brutus, the heir of a republican dynasty (Posadas, 2024). This event hastened the final collapse of the Republic, as Caesar’s death accelerated the transition to a new political system, whose foundations had been laid by his dictatorship and ultimately culminated in the rise of his adoptive son, Octavian, as the first Roman emperor (Barja de Quiroga, 2004).

Cleopatra and Her Influence on Rome

Queen Cleopatra is often associated with glamorous beauty routines, snake bites, and passionate love affairs with notorious Roman men. However, in this article, we will focus on how her failed relationship with Julius Caesar impacted the politics of both Egypt and Rome, particularly in two key aspects. On the one hand, during Caesar’s dictatorship, his approach to controlling Egypt was heavily criticized for installing Cleopatra and Ptolemy as rulers under his dictatorial authority rather than appointing a governor. On the other hand, the dictator’s public relationship with a foreign woman provoked rejection in Rome, where morality and aversion to foreigners were deeply ingrained values.

Born in 69 BC to the Egyptian king Ptolemy XII and a mother of unknown origin, Cleopatra belonged to an ancient Greek dynasty that took control of Egypt in 305 BC. Upon her father’s death in 51 BC, Cleopatra, at just 18 years old, married her brother Ptolemy XIII, becoming queen (Roller, 2010). However, the young monarch sought the Egyptian throne for himself, which soon led to a civil war, with both rulers aligning with different factions in the ongoing conflict within the Roman Republic. During their father’s reign, he had depended on and sympathized with Rome, and his children followed the same strategy. After the initial clashes, Cleopatra briefly fled to Syria, which was then under Roman control. Upon her return to Alexandria, the queen resorted to a theatrical trick to win the favor of Julius Caesar, who was staying in the city's palace. Evading the blockade imposed by her brother, she presented herself before the Roman general wrapped in a carpet, unrolling herself at his feet before ultimately winning him over (Muñoz Páez, 2012).

Figure 5: Tiépolo. (18th century). Caesar and the Queen of Egypt.

Despite the significant age difference—Caesar was 30 years older (Blakemore, 2023)—and the fact that he was married, he began a romantic relationship with Cleopatra while consolidating his power as Rome’s sole dictator. Caesar became fully involved in the dynastic conflict, which ended with Ptolemy XIII’s death in 47 BC when the young monarch drowned in the Nile while fleeing Roman troops near Alexandria. With Egypt under Caesar’s control, Cleopatra reclaimed the throne and married her 12-year-old brother, Ptolemy XIV, declaring him her co-ruler (Muñoz Páez, 2012). Shortly after, she gave birth to Caesarion, a son believed to be the result of her relationship with Caesar. Their romance lasted until the dictator’s assassination on the Ides of March in 44 BC. Throughout their affair, two significant events are particularly worth exploring.

First and foremost, Cleopatra’s presence caused significant conflict. The queen visited Rome multiple times, during which various treaties and alliances between Rome and Egypt were negotiated. While these efforts led to important political advancements, it is known that Cleopatra stayed in a villa with gardens owned by Caesar in the heart of Trastevere. Her presence in the city quickly aroused unfavorable comments from soldiers, the public, and even the Senate. Caesar was married to Calpurnia, and housing his mistress on his own property was seen as an affront to traditional morality, leading to Cleopatra being labeled the Egyptian prostitute (Posadas, 2025).

Figure 6: Gerome, J.G. (1866). Cleopatra and Caesar.

A month after Caesar’s assassination, the queen, who had accumulated several enemies in Rome, left the capital along with her child-husband and her son, Caesarion. The criticism and insulting remarks about her intensified both during her stay and after her departure. On one hand, Cicero, a Roman politician and philosopher during the Roman Republic, openly admitted his hatred for the queen and wished her no good. He wrote in a letter expressing his hope that Cleopatra and her son would share the fate of Tertulla, a Roman noblewoman who had died during an abortion. On the other hand, poets Propertius and Horace later referred to Cleopatra as the prostitute queen of Canopus. These comments likely circulated during Caesar’s time but gained greater prominence as propaganda weapons during the years of Octavian. The future Emperor Augustus used these remarks to contrast the virtuous Roman way of life with the supposed decadence of the Egyptian court (Posadas, 2025).

Another reason Cleopatra gained numerous enemies was her political influence over Caesar in Rome. In antiquity, being a Roman citizen was a fundamental privilege that granted the highest legal status and rights. In fact, obtaining Roman citizenship was an achievement reserved for a minority throughout the monarchy, the republic, and part of the imperial era. Roman citizens (cives Romani) were the only ones with the right to hold public office, while foreigners (peregrini)—any free person who was not a citizen—were only granted the ius gentium, which was equivalent to basic human rights. This distinction is crucial to understanding the resentment Cleopatra provoked among the Roman people (Abel, 2022). The fact that a foreign woman had such influence over Caesar—participating in public events like the inauguration of the Forum of Caesar and attending meetings with Roman officials—challenged Rome’s traditions and political order. However, Cleopatra’s political skill and powers of persuasion allowed her to maintain Egypt’s independence, which sparked strong criticism against Caesar. By entrusting the Egyptian government to Cleopatra without making it a Roman province, Caesar avoided allocating military and administrative resources to protect the territory, thereby limiting the Senate’s control. This strategy not only ensured the queen’s loyalty but also reinforced Caesar’s unchecked authority by concentrating power in his own hands rather than delegating it to other Roman politicians (Schiff, 2024).

Figure 7: Relief in the Ptolemaic Temple of Hathor in Dendera depicting Ptolemy XV and his mother, Cleopatra VII.

Cleopatra's relationship with Julius Caesar was far more than a legendary romance, it had profound political consequences for both Egypt and Rome. Her presence in the Roman capital fueled controversy, challenging traditional values and stirring public resentment. Meanwhile, her influence over Caesar reshaped Rome’s approach to governing Egypt, strengthening Caesar’s power but at the same time weakening his popularity, as it aroused resentment and hatred against him. Their relationship not only contributed to the tensions that led to Caesar’s assassination but also played a role in the political transformations that followed, shaping the future of both empires.

Conclusion

Cleopatra and Servilia were not merely Caesar’s lovers; they were influential political figures who shaped his career and, ultimately, his fate. While Servilia’s connection to Caesar positioned her son, Brutus, at the heart of the conspiracy that led to the dictator’s assassination, Cleopatra’s presence in Rome and her influence over Caesar fueled resentment among the elite and the public. Their relationships with him not only impacted his personal life but also played a crucial role in the broader political transformations that led to the fall of the Republic and the rise of the Empire. In the end, these two women—each in her own way—left an indelible mark on Roman history.

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